Digital nomads sometimes give off the impression that this lifestyle is all beaches and suncream and that nothing ever goes wrong. That our days are filled with nothing more than waking up at dawn to infinite smoothie bowl options and yoga poses, smashing the most productive day of your life in the bougie-est of co-working spaces, and ending every day by sipping on mojitos with 50 of your newest travel buds.
And many people yet to dip their feet into the DN lifestyle may just buy it. Who can blame them when their instagram feeds are saturated by reel after reel showing only the good parts of long-term travel and how awesome it is.
In my ongoing effort to keep it real, I’d like to share some pretty not awesome but very real things that have happened to me while traveling.
To commemorate 6 years of my digital nomad journey, here are 6 of my all-time worst travel moments.
A Word to the Wise
Now, this article isn’t meant to scare anyone, but rather provide a realistic view into what it’s really like when you live and work on the road. The longer you travel, accidents and crazy sh*t are just bound to happen every now and then.
My best advice: don’t leave home without getting proper travel insurance. The best travel insurance for digital nomads and travelers is without a doubt Safety Wing.
Safety Wing is a travel insurance company ran by actual digital nomads. So they know the ins and outs of what we really need from our insurance policy. Give yourself peace of mind and a safety net for when crap inevitably hits the fan, and make sure you’re covered.
Ready to travel? Book your travel insurance with Safety Wing First
The best part? Safety Wing insurance starts at as little as $45 a month. That’s less than 2 bucks a day, something all of us can definitely afford.
6 of My Worst Travel Moments
1. Totaling our Rental Car in Namibia
This is probably the only genuine near death experience I’ve ever had and it’s as horrible as it sounds. We essentially skidded on some loose gravel (most Namibian roads are like this) resulting in loss of control over the car, and us flipping over.
Luckily, we were in a remote area in the desert so we didn’t hit anything, otherwise things could have ended way worse. We walked away with just a few bruises and a moderate case of whiplash.
The real damage was done to our car, and the consequence was us losing thousands of dollars from our deposit on the first ay of our trip.
I wish I could say that I had travel insurance back then and that it was fully covered but, you live and you learn. Another great case for why you NEED travel insurance.
2. Having a Panic Attack 80 feet Underwater in Mexico
Cozumel, Mexico is famous for its bull shark infested waters where adventurous divers can experience getting up close and personal with these apex predators.
I was an experienced diver by the time I decided to try this, but it had been years since my last dive (since before COVID) so I was pretty rusty. It didn’t help that I became extremely seasick on the dive boat and projectile puked into the ocean mere moments before getting in the water.
In other words: I wasn’t on my A game and I ended up having a full blown panic attack at the bottom of the sea while being circled by a bunch of sharks.
A common symptom of panic attacks is feeling like you can’t breath, which is exactly what happened to me. I was convinced my gear had failed and I was on my last breath 80 feet away from the nearest air.
Luckily I had an amazing guide who saw what was happening and stopped me from panicking and swimming back to the surface – an act that could have done real harm considering we were 80 feet under, so planned decompression stops are needed before surfacing.
Once I calmed down, I did still enjoy being with the sharks, but I’ll never forget the moment of sheer panic when I thought I was going to suffocate to death.
3. Getting Caught in a Flood in Vietnam
Central Vietnam is known for floods between November and December, which is exactly when I visited in 2018.
The day I got caught up in one started as a sunny day with clear skies. At no point did it rain, giving me a falls sense of safety.
I had rented a bike and was cycling along the river. Around noon the water just started to rise and never stopped. I ended up getting cornered on the banks in the old town right next to a historic building that slowly went underwater.
I had to ditch the bike (which was never recovered by the way) and luckily some locals swooped me up on their rowboat. Interestingly, the locals seemed un-phased by the flood and were able to row me all the way to my hotel (which was also underwater) and eventually to an area further out which wasn’t flooded.
4. Being Trapped in South Africa for 60 Days
Before the first COVID lockdown, I was traveling South Africa, one of the last countries to go into lockdown. A series of unfortunate events led to me getting stuck inside the country alone for 60 days when they finally did go into one of the strictest lockdowns of all nations.
The first unfortunate event was when all flights to the US were banned since it was the most infected country at the time. This meant, I couldn’t fly home.
Then, most countries around the world stopped accepting foreigners as they prepared for lockdown, so I had nowhere left to go.
The final straw was when I myself got COVID, and was told to quarantine for 2 weeks, during which time, all South African airports and borders shut down completely and anyone left behind had no choice but to stay.
Being trapped overseas alone during a pandemic, not knowing when you can leave or see your family again, is still the hardest thing I’ve mentally endured.
In the end I paid $3500 for an emergency evacuation flight back to the US out of pocket because guess what? I still didn’t have travel insurance!
5. Being Attacked by a Wild Monkey in Bali
The monkeys in Ubud are known for being badly behaved. But I never in my life imagined that one would jump on my head for no reason, other than to try prying my backpack open while ripping out clumps of my hair in the process.
This happened right in Monkey Park, a paid attraction that many tourists visit. I still don’t know why it attacked me but I’m guessing it hoped to find food in my bag.
As it turns out, I did not have any food so that little guy left empty handed, and I with a new life long fear of monkeys.
6. Being Caught up in a Terrorist Attack in India
My first trip to India ended in my all-time favorite city in the country: Udaipur.
Unfortunately, there was some tension in the country at the time and what ensued was a terrorist attack that occurred literally hundreds of meters from my hotel.
In response, the government decided to shut down both the city and the internet in an effort to curb outrage and misinformation. This coincided with some very important work calls I had lined up for that week.
I just remember standing on the roof of the hotel next to mine, with my computer in one hand held up to the sky in one specific corner, which was the only spot I was able to scrape some internet with 0.5 MBPS of download speed.
The good news? I was able to complete most calls and thankfully, the clients kept the video off because I must have looked insane doing what I was doing.
What a journey! What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you while traveling?
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